Chapter 134

After the short yet long moment of kissing came to an end, it was Turan who pulled his lips away first.

The reason, absurdly enough, was because he simply couldn’t breathe.

His nose, recently broken from being hit, was still filled with blood, and now even his mouth was blocked.

"Haaah...."

After taking a few deep breaths in and out, Turan first pinched his nose and used fluid manipulation magic to extract the blood that had filled it.

The blood that had been gushing madly only stopped after he downed the healing potion, created with magic artifact, several times.

From behind, Meisa, wiping the blood off her lips, asked,

“...You’re not seriously thinking of brushing this off like that, are you?”

“Of course not.”

Letting out a hearty laugh as he stood up, Turan looked into her still-swollen eyes.

Her sky-blue pupils shimmered, filled with tears.

He had known for some time that Meisa’s affection toward him had shifted into something between a man and a woman.

That kind of emotion was something the senses of a Zahar were particularly sensitive to.

Even so, there were several reasons why he hadn’t clarified their relationship.

If their relationship became too deep, Solif, who formed the third of their trio, might feel alienated, or there was the uncertainty he felt about his own heart.

But to use such excuses even in a moment like this, stepping back a step, would be not just cowardly but utterly foolish.

“You're the only one I consider as my partner, Meisa. No matter who comes from Zahar, I won’t be swayed.”

Partner, the word that, for the first time, defined their relationship, was as heavy as it was indescribably sweet.

There was no hesitation in Turan’s voice as he spoke it aloud.

Speaking the words out loud only confirmed further that his feelings were not different from what he had thought.

It even made him think he should have said it sooner.

Upon hearing this, Meisa let out a soft moan and buried her face into Turan’s chest, saying,

“...Sorry.”

“For what?”

“For hitting you.”

To simply say “for hitting you” didn’t quite cover the extent of the wounds Turan had sustained.

His cheekbone might have been shattered, his face was puffed up, and even his nasal bone was broken.

Still, he had built up a degree of resistance, having suffered injuries like this often enough in the colosseum.

In fact, when Turan had once beaten Meisa into submission there, he had caused even worse injuries.

"Well, I deserved it, so what can I do?"

Had Meisa, for strategic reasons, declared she would date one of the Aravion nobles, Turan too would have lost his mind with jealousy.

Instead of beating her, he probably would have stormed the main house of Aravion to assassinate the guy.

Of course, there was a reason he had made that decision independently without discussing it in advance.

If he had said he would decide after consulting with others, Talis might have realized just how important Meisa was to Turan, that she could be a weakness.

“Hearing that just makes me feel like the childish one.”

“That’s how we all grow.”

"What do you mean, when you're younger than me...."

At Turan’s teasing, Meisa let out a small laugh.

If Solif, who was about thirty years older than both of them, had seen this, he probably would’ve said the kids were playing well together.

After exchanging warmth for a while with lighthearted banter, Meisa softly said,

“Don’t be too harsh on that girl.”

“You mean the granddaughter of the Zahar Family Head?”

“Yeah. She’s being sold off too, right? At least treat her well as a guest.”

"Well, that's...."

Turan recalled his conversation with Talis.

Just like a cunning and ruthless Zahar noble, Talis had said he knew what to prioritize and what to cut off.

Those words weren't just lies that came out carelessly.

If the Zahar young lady obediently played her part in this peace act and then left, that would be one thing.

But if she crossed the line, Turan was fully capable of becoming a monster.

***

A few hours later, Turan and Meisa returned to Kalamaf, looking much the same as when they had left, aside from the fact that they were now covered in dust and dirt.

Of course, there were still faint bruises on his faces, and his previously broken nose remained swollen and red.

Even that was only thanks to the excessive intake of healing potions from the magic artifact, which had somewhat improved his condition.

Upon their return, the two resumed their previous dynamic, as if nothing had changed since before the Zahar nobles had arrived.

To be precise, they seemed subtly closer and more uninhibited than before.

The influential figures of Kalamaf pondered how to interpret this fact.

In the end, it was Solif, who occupied a position equal to theirs and was therefore in a place to speak up, who carefully asked Turan on everyone’s behalf,

“...Hey, did things get sorted out?”

“Yeah.”

“How?”

"You know, just did."

Turan, and Meisa as well, offered only vague answers, and so the truth was buried in darkness.

However, everyone could see that their relationship had clearly changed from before, becoming more tightly and tenaciously intertwined.

Once the previously unsettled atmosphere calmed down, Turan gathered the city’s nobles and made a new announcement.

He would be leaving Kalamaf for a short time.

“How long...?”

“Probably no more than a week at most.”

During the previous battle in the forest against the two soul-possessed bodies, Turan had been pierced in the chest by Ymir’s ice axe.

From the wound, ice flowers had bloomed, and a few of those had stabbed into his lungs, leaving injuries that persisted even now. From time to time, he still coughed up blood.

To heal this, he had regularly consumed recovery potions and received help from the only healer they had, but whether it was due to Turan’s excessively strong magic power or because it was a wound caused by god's magic, his lung injury showed no signs of healing.

What he needed was a high-ranking healer from Lavitas.

Given the difficulty of movement in the current situation, he had recently sent a letter to Rida requesting a visit, but for some reason, she replied that it was difficult for her to get away at present.

In other words, Turan needed to go there directly for a complete recovery.

“But isn’t our defense and emergency evacuation plan all focused on Aravion? Do we not need to worry about Zahar? I’m really skeptical that those guys will honor the agreement.”

At Solif’s question, Turan nodded.

“I can’t say ‘absolutely’, but it should be fine for the most part. We’ve already shown them our strength. We’ve also widely publicized the non-aggression pact, so breaking it would damage their honor.”

While they had already crossed the bridge by binding Cadrum’s soul, but there was no such deep grudge between Zahar and Turan, at least not yet.

To be exact, Turan knew Talis was the man who killed his father and harbored one-sided hatred, but Talis himself was unaware of this fact.

In such a situation, the combat power Turan’s group had demonstrated in the recent forest battle made it far too risky for Zahar to provoke them.

Besides, they weren’t rampaging about wanting to kill all the gods, they were even showing willingness to compromise.

That is, Turan wasn’t trusting Zahar’s honesty or integrity, he was trusting in the broader political landscape informed by the intelligence he had gathered.

In that respect, the chance of Aravion attacking again wasn’t that high either.

The damage inflicted on them by Turan’s group during the previous battle had been that devastating.

After the meeting ended, Meisa lightly patted Turan’s back to dust him off and said,

“Travel safely. We’ll hold things down here just fine.”

Just as she said, one of the reasons he could afford to go on this short journey was thanks to the presence of two other individuals with skills on par with his own.

Turan nodded at the glimpse of the golden armor peeking out from beneath Meisa’s collar.

Sky Guardian.

This powerful sacred relic, originally wielded by Cadrum, was now being worn underneath Meisa’s outfit.

If she went into the colosseum wearing that right now, there was a good chance Turan might actually lose.

At that moment, Meisa, perhaps interpreting the way Turan looked at her, blushed slightly and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

Solif, watching from the side, let out a "Eeek!" and twisted his body around in mock agony.

*

After leaving Kalamaf, Turan immediately mounted Bije and began flying southwest.

Was it because she was happy to be flying alone with him again after such a long time?

Bije, humming songs only Turan could hear within his mind, flew at a much faster pace than usual.

-The silver-haired grandfather wove a net, and told me a fairy tale, over and over again, in little pictures!

How long had she been singing that nursery rhyme she must’ve picked up somewhere?

After a day and a half of flying, Turan crossed the border between the forest region and the Enril Desert and entered the Siraf Wetland.

Paying close attention to the surrounding scenery, he felt like the capital of Lavitas, Merem City, would soon come into view.

Having frequented the area enough times, he was now able to distinguish the once-indistinguishable swampland fairly well.

‘If the chance comes, I’d really like to see how much the southern reclaimed land has changed.’

Of course, that was a thought he shouldn’t entertain, considering the defensive capabilities of Kalamaf would be weakened while he was away.

It would already take a considerable amount of time just to travel down from Merem to there, and since it was in the south, the return trip would be delayed even further.

One thing he had learned recently was that some kind of spiritual flow was coming to him from the south.

When he activated his spiritual perception, he could sense a steady current of power coming from somewhere far to the south, probably where the reclaimed land was.

He still didn’t fully understand how it worked, but it didn’t feel ominous.

And so, about a day and a half passed.

After secretly landing near Merem City, Turan absorbed Bije into his body and headed straight for Rida’s mansion.

Having stayed there several times before, he recognized the face of the servant guarding the entrance.

“Oh, the great one...”

“No need for all that formality. Is Lady Rida home? I’d appreciate it if you could let her know I’m sorry for visiting unannounced.”

At Turan’s words, the servant wore an awkward expression.

“My lady is not at the mansion.”

“Is that so?”

In truth, Turan already knew Rida wasn’t in the mansion by sensing through his sacred relic’s detection ability.

He had only asked out of courtesy.

“Then I’d like to stay here until she returns. That should be alright, yes?”

“Um, well...”

The servant hesitated, which made Turan frown.

Rida had told him before that he was always welcome to visit, so it should’ve been a given that he’d be allowed to stay.

After a slightly uncomfortable pause, the servant finally guided Turan inside.

After washing off the filth from sleeping outdoors and finishing a delicious meal, Turan asked the maid who had been attending to him,

“Did Lady Rida happen to mention when she’d return?”

“Pardon? Um, I’m not really sure...”

For some reason, the maid seemed visibly flustered by Turan’s question.

He asked several other servants similar questions afterward, but none of them could say what Rida was doing or when she would return.

It wasn’t until he pressed the butler that he finally received a satisfying answer.

“Lady Rida has not returned to the mansion in several months.”

“Several months?”

“Yes. To be precise, the last time she left was when the head of House Varaha visited. She went to the main estate to attend a welcome banquet.”

Turan’s eyes narrowed at the butler’s words.

"Despite that, we exchanged letters about two weeks ago."

“We delivered the letter to the main estate and received a reply from there.”

In other words, Rida was staying at the main estate and able to write letters, but she could not return to this mansion.

Something about it all reeked of suspicion.

“You don’t know exactly what’s going on?”

“No. But what I do know is that after the head of House Varaha visited and left, many of the high-ranking nobles from the main estate have been staying in the Family Head’s quarters. I don’t know what’s happening inside...”

The head of House Varaha, who had traveled by ship across the South Sea to the Siraf Wetland several months ago.

Back then, Turan and his group had merely assumed that something was wrong with the head of House Varaha's body, and perhaps he had come seeking healing.

The reason they had been able to raid the Varaha main estate and rescue Solif’s parents so swiftly was precisely because that man wasn’t there.

Turan looked toward the distant Lavitas Family Head’s residence and said to the butler,

“I’ll write a letter, please deliver it to the main estate, if you could. Make sure Lady Rida receives it.”

The contents of Turan’s letter were simple.

He explained that he had come seeking Rida’s help and expressed his willingness to offer assistance in return if she needed anything from him.

He didn’t know what kind of issue required so many high-ranking nobles to gather at the Lavitas main estate, but if the matter wasn’t resolved, Turan would have no choice but to remain at Rida’s mansion.

Otherwise, he would have to return to Kalamaf with nothing to show for it.

‘Looks like I’ll be staying here longer than expected.’

The thought that every minute he spent away could potentially put Kalamaf, and the people dear to him, in danger, made him increasingly uneasy.

Building a base of operations always came with such pros and cons.

Fortunately, he wasn’t without means to stay in touch.

That night, at the scheduled time, Turan calmed his mind by speaking with Meisa through the hand mirror magic artifact.

*

The reply to the letter Turan had asked the butler to deliver came the following day around noon.

Instead of writing a response, Rida had sent someone who appeared to be a servant of the main estate to invite Turan to the Family Head’s residence.

‘Hopefully... it’s not a trap.’

If something was amiss, he would sense it through the perception of the Mimic Relic.

Still, if it really was a trap, it would mean his relationship with Lavitas was broken beyond repair, and he sincerely hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

Without their help, the only way Turan could receive high-level healing would be to kill a healer and feed their magic power to a sacred relic.

As he reached the front of the Family Head’s residence, Turan frowned at the presences he sensed inside.

He saw the Lavitas Family Head, presumably Osel, surrounded by a dozen high-ranking nobles.

‘They all seem to be trying to heal Osel… don’t tell me?’

From the layout alone, a possibility emerged in his mind.

That suspicion turned halfway into certainty when he was finally brought inside and met Rida.

“It’s been a while, Turan. I’m sorry I couldn’t come out to greet you.”

“Not at all. It’s only proper that I come to you.”

Though he hadn’t seen her in months, Rida was still youthful and beautiful, but whether due to worry or fatigue, her face looked strangely aged and worn.

Turan could sense that the flow of magic within her was weak and unstable.

‘Her physical strength is depleted from excessive use of healing magic. So it’s that, after all...’

“So, you said you needed my help?”

“Yes. I was seriously wounded in a recent battle. Although I recovered, I’m still suffering aftereffects and wanted to ask for your healing.”

Rida hesitated briefly at Turan’s words, then let out a sigh as if even bringing it up was difficult for her.

“I’m sorry, but it may be difficult right now.”

“Is it because of the Family Head?”

“How did you…?”

Rida’s face twisted in shock, struck at the core.

“You seem fatigued from overusing your magic. The other Lavitas nobles are gathered here and haven’t come out, so I thought there could be no other reason.”

In truth, Turan had used the Mimic Relic to observe the situation and pieced things together, but Rida had no way of knowing that.

Letting out a deep sigh, she nodded.

“Yes, you’re right. The head of House Varaha launched a surprise attack and left the Family Head with severe wounds. We’re doing everything we can to heal him, but we’ve only managed to maintain his condition. I’m sorry, but I don’t have the magic left to treat you.”

“I’m surprised word of this hasn’t spread.”

If two Family Head-class wizards from Great Noble Houses had fought each other at full strength, and even those who followed them had all participated in the battle, the capital city of Merem being half-destroyed wouldn’t have been surprising in the slightest.

At Turan’s words, she clicked her tongue.

“It’s because my Osel was overly gentle. That child didn’t want us to attack in retaliation and die for it. So we had no choice but to let them go.”

If Osel, the greatest healer in the world, couldn’t heal himself, then the attack couldn’t have been anything ordinary.

It was probably god's magic using symbol combinations or the effect of a powerful sacred relic.

“The only silver lining is that the head of House Varaha was also severely injured. It likely won’t be easy for him to recover, either. Aside from us, there’s no one who could perform healing magic strong enough for a body of such power.”

“Do you know why he attacked in the first place?”

“He claimed it was because we hid the heir of House Varaha. Aside from that, he and Osel spoke privately, so I don’t know the rest.”

In other words, Solif’s existence had served as one of the justifications for the attack.

Whether that was truly the reason or not, it had clearly had some influence.

As Solif’s friend, Turan bit his lip tightly.

"How about the favor I asked before?"

If it was the favor she had asked, it would be finding the stolen sacred relic of House Lavitas.

All she had known at the time was that they had vanished by ship somewhere to the east, with no further information.

The moment she asked the question, Turan could already tell what she meant.

“That’s the answer, isn’t it.”

The sacred relic that granted powerful healing and purification magic to its user.

That, indeed, was the most promising way to restore Osel, the Family Head of Lavitas.